Britain, The rise and rise of black business (2/3)

Black business women are an integral part of the black business success story as they now own more businesses than any other female ethnic group. Recent UK government figures show that black women have the highest level of business ownership in London with 29% owning businesses, compared to 21 % of whites and 15 % of Asians.

One notable black female is the remarkable Kanya King, founder and CEO of the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards. She has risen into an internationally recognised entrepreneur and innovator in the British music industry. Through MOBO, King has for the past 14 years played an important role in elevating black music and culture to mainstream popular status in the United Kingdom. She is also the publisher of the successful Mobo magazine, which celebrates black music, entertainment and culture.

A significant development in the UK business sector is the large number of firms owned by second and third generation Africans (British Africans), particularly entrepreneurs of West African background.

Other than their larger population (there are 451,000 black Africans in London compared to 415,000 black Caribbeans), there are a number of further reasons for the growth of British African entrepreneurs:

* Identifying and successfully exploiting the business opportunity or gaps in the mar­ket like any entrepreneur. Some individuals in this group tend to have cultural mindset which sees entrepreneurship as a first choice rather an option where jobs are scarce.

* Capitalising on qualifications, British African businesspeople tend to have higher educational levels and tend to start businesses in sectors where they can use and exploit their degrees or professional qualifications, such as law, accountancy, ICT, business and financial services.

* "Push factors" - British Africans are often forced to start up their own business due to many reasons including difficulties in finding suitable employment that matches their qualifications and experience sometimes due to discrimination in the job market, lack of job promotion, etc.

A number of reports have concluded that African men, in particular, face severe disadvantages in the UK job market despite educational success. The national UK research organisation, the Joseph Roundtree Foundation QRF), found that an African graduate was seven times more likely to be unemployed than a white graduate.

In May last year, another report by the JRF found that black African workers were paid up to 25% less than their white counterparts despite having the same or higher qualifications and doing the same job.

Capitalising on business opportunities available in Africa presented by emerging African economies such as Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa, brought about by economic growth, privatisation and liberation of key sectors such as IT, telecoms and financial services, have led to a significant growth of British Africans doing businesses in home countries.

Often these entrepreneurs build on their social and business networks across the UK and extend them into black African communities in Europe and North America.

In addition, these entrepreneurs are capitalising on the increasing trade between the UK and African countries. For example, UK Custom and Excise figures revealed that in 2004, commodity imports from the top five African countries totalled £4bn, while UK exports to these countries totalled around £3bn.